A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. The word or phrase that the preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition.
A preposition tells us the relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence. The best way to remember how this works, is to use this saying “A preposition is anywhere a mouse can go”. Here are some examples to show you what I mean:
The mouse is under the cheese.
The mouse is on the cheese.
The mouse is leaning against the cheese.
The mouse is beside the cheese.
Some prepositions do not work with this concept. But you should be abe to get the most out of the saying. You will have to use a judgment call when confronted by a word you are unsure of. Here are some examples you might come across:
“The mouse is during the cheese.” It sounds a bit funny doesn’t it? But if we make the sentence like this:
“She read the book during class.” Then it works much better.
A prepositional phrase is made up of the preposition, its object and any associated adjectives or adverbs. A prepositional phrase can function as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. The most common prepositions are: about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, but, by, despite, down, during, except, for, from, in, inside, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, out, outside, over, past, since, through, throughout, till, to, toward, under, underneath, until, up, upon, with, within, and without.
Each of the highlighted words in the following sentences is a preposition:
The children climbed the mountain without fear.
In this sentence, the preposition “without” introduces the noun “fear.” The prepositional phrase “without fear” functions as an adverb describing how the children climbed.
There was rejoicing throughout the land when the government was defeated.
Here, the preposition “throughout” introduces the noun phrase “the land.” The prepositional phrase acts as an adverb describing the location of the rejoicing.
The spider crawled slowly along the banister.
The preposition “along” introduces the noun phrase “the banister” and the prepositional phrase “along the banister” acts as an adverb, describing where the spider crawled.
The dog is hiding under the porch because it knows it will be punished for chewing up a new pair of shoes.
Here the preposition “under” introduces the prepositional phrase “under the porch,” which acts as an adverb modifying the compound verb “is hiding.”
The screenwriter searched for the manuscript he was certain was somewhere in his office.
Similarly in this sentence, the preposition “in” introduces a prepositional phrase “in his office,” which acts as an adverb describing the location of the missing papers.
The most commonly used prepositions to specify a direction or placement are:
- on
- in
- under
- next to
- in front of
- at
- beside
-between
These words show where something is in relation to another object or person.
The word in is always used to show that a person or object is enclosed within something, “The mouse is in the cheese”. It can also be used to tell geographical locations, For example “I live in Beijing” or “New Delhi is in India”.
